United Kingdom inks deal to become CeBIT 2014 Partner Country

The United Kingdom has signed a deal with the German Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media [BITKOM] and CeBIT to become the official partner country for 2014.

The deal heralds a new era of cooperation between the IT industries of the UK and Germany, and will see a German-British IT Summit take place on 10 March, the opening day of CeBIT 2014.

"The UK is the second-largest ICT market in Europe after Germany. The networking and dialogue opportunities at next year's CeBIT will be of enormous benefit to exhibitors. For small and medium businesses in particular, the fair is an affordable, highly effective means of forging key international contacts," commented BITKOM president Dieter Kempf.

Simon McDonald, British Ambassador in Berlin, Nick Baird, CEO of UKTI, and Marius Felzmann, senior VP of CeBIT at Deutsche Messe, signed a memorandum of understanding [MoU] to complete a deal that makes the UK partner country for CeBIT’s 2014 conference.

"The partnership between these two industrial nations is testimony to Europe's strength. As well as being home to their fair share of global IT players, the UK and Germany each have a very healthy IT startup scene. The closer cooperation envisaged by the Partner Country concept harbors major commercial potential for both countries," commented Oliver Frese, the Deutsche Messe managing board member in charge of CeBIT.

The deal was made possible by cooperation agreements signed between Deutsche Messe and the UKTI, as well as one between German and UK IT industry associations BITKOM and Intellect.

One of the core elements of the agreement is the German-British IT Summit taking place on 10 March at CeBIT 2014 that will see high-ranking government officials from both countries coming together to discuss each IT industry.

The annual CeBIT trade show this year takes place in Hannover, Germany from 10 to 14 March and acts as a showcase for the European IT industry. In addition to the German-British IT Summit, the event is hosting the CODE_n international startup competition with interested parties reminded the deadline for completed entries is 31 October.